Here are six more (mostly) stream-of-consciousness song reviews (although a bit less stream-of-consciousness then last time, I?m more awake now, frankly) culled from the depths of my iTunes library. And to make it even better, most of these songs, with the exception of the "What the Soul Desires" and "Crazy Girl" are available on iTunes, so in case you have absolutely no idea what I'm talking about, go download 'em, why don't you? Or you could just go steal them from somewhere. Whichever works best for you.
They Might Be Giants - "Boat of Car"
This song is particularly strange, even for a TMBG song. It opens with a silly Casio-sounding start-stop keyboard lick punctuated at the end of each phrase with a sample of Johnny Cash's voice from "Daddy Sang Bass." The sample drops out after a few repeats, however, and the song gets a little less weird, adding instead the vocals of a Ms. Margaret Seiler, which is slightly more melodic and less nasally than either of the Johns', but not quite as quirky and likeable either. The melody is sorta pretty though, in an offbeat way, and the song ends up being a quite tidy little pop nugget, clocking in at only 1:15, and never really letting up in the weirdness. These guys are fucked-up, for sure, but they may just be the most brilliant songwriters of the eighties or (early) nineties (their later stuff tends to lean a bit more towards the suck end of the spectrum).
Moment of Truth: The repeated "on the boat of car" line at the end of the song with its pleasant little melody and pretty keyboard parts is the most overtly musical part of the song. (:56-1:10)
Donovan - "What the Soul Desires"
Okay, so this is not Donovan's best song. It?s extremely folky, and while, yes, Donovan was a folk singer, his best songs were always the rockier and more rhythmic: "Sunshine Superman," "Season of the Witch," "Mellow Yellow," "Hurdy Gurdy Man," "Barabajagal," "Riki Tiki Tavi," and you see where this is going. But what I mean by it being so folky is that it wouldn't sound too out of place in A Mighty Wind. The little part where it picks up for the chorus is so campfire sing-a-long-y it almost makes me want to vomit. But his voice is quite beautiful, and some of the playing really is nice. Pretty song, if a little vapid.
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